Mike Huckabee laying the groundwork for 2016 run

Having passed on the 2012 campaign after winning the Iowa caucuses in 2008, there was little doubt Mike Huckabee wouldn’t launch another bid the presidency sometime in the future. That time may turn out to be the 2016 race which, so far, has an entirely wide open field on the Republican side.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who turned his stunning victory in the 2008 Iowa caucuses into a thriving talk show career, is reconnecting with activists and enlisting staff to position himself in a growing field of potential Republican presidential candidates.

Huckabee is scheduled to spend part of November holding private meetings with powerful GOP financiers in Las Vegas, New York, and California, gauging their interest in being bundlers for his possible campaign and asking for pledges of five-to six-figure donations to his aligned organizations. And he is planning two strategy sessions in December, in Little Rock and Destin, Fla., near his new Gulf Coast home, to discuss timing, potential staffing, and an opening pitch to voters.

In January, Huckabee will publish “God, Guns, Grits, and Gravy,” his latest manifesto on politics and culture.

Huckabee is still a host on the Fox News Channel which will inhibit his plans until he decides to break away from his broadcasting gig and jump back into politics.

“I have to be very careful about this,” Huckabee said in an interview Tuesday with The Post.

He noted that he has “obligations in broadcasting,” and that, when it comes to running for president, “I am not doing anything official at this point.”

Still, in the interview, Huckabee signaled that he has begun thinking about areas where he might differentiate himself from some of his potential adversaries.

Huckabee would be looking to elbow out Ted Cruz and Rick Santorum to take the social conservative mantle during the primaries.

About the Author

Nate Ashworth is the Founder and Senior Editor of Election Central. He's been blogging elections and politics for almost a decade. He started covering the 2008 Presidential Election which turned into a full-time political blog in 2012 and 2016.

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